Sheet supporting and carrying car



A. G. SMITH ET AL SHEET SUPPORTING AND CARRYING CAR Filed Nov a. 1923 F :28 R. Bares fliea Patented Jan. '13, 1925.

LSZZEZB TUYNIITED' STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR G. SMITH AND FRANK R. BATES, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

SHEET SUPPORTING AND CARRYING GAR.

Application filed November 8, 1923. Serial No. 673,599.

To all whom it may concern:

' anduseful Improvements in Sheet Supportingand Carrying Cars, of which the following is a specification. 10

Our invention relates to devices designed for carryi'ngiand supporting sheets such as" plaster-wall board and the likeduring the course of manufacture.

The object of our invention is to provide a device in which a series of sheets of plastei'qvall bo'ard or other analogous sheet material may be inserted and held in sus-- pended condition, whether for the purpose of transporting .or ofdrying. The device consists essentially of a trolley or car adapted to runupon tracks, preferably overhead, I wh chtrolley contains a series of frictional grips pr clamps adaptedto engage and hold the sheet at or nearits upper edge and carry this sheet suspended.

Our invention also consists ofthe'novel means for gripp ng and holdlng the sheets.

In the accompanying drawings we h'ave shown our device in the form of construction in which we prefer to use the same.

Figure 1 is'a side view showing a section of the supporting trackway with two cars or trolleys thereon and a long sheet supported face of one of the arms," that is the face against which the clamping dog operates.

In the manufacture of the particular productif'or which this was originally designed, namely, plaster-wall board, the wall board is made and maintained in ahorizont'al planeuntil it has set sufliciently so that it may be handled. Such sheets, while they may be handled so as to be removed from the carrying surface, are only partially set, andtherefore must be maintained in such position and under' such conditions that they will not be seriously deformed until 5 they have become entirely set or cured. In the processiofmanufacturing such boards wherethe. present apparatus is employed, the boards are then placed in the clamping devices Of the cars and suspended from their of construction of the wheels and the rails isnot an essential part of our invention. The particular type illustrated may be replaced'by any other convenient type which is found applicable. V The frame 11 in which the wheels are journaled is preferably given a connection with the main frame of the car, such that it may" have slight automatic adjustment about a vertical axis. This is doneby making. the frame 11 in twoside pieces, which are bolted together, and in providing these pieces with recesses adapted to receive the head 20 carried on the'end of a short arm which connects it with the cross bars 2 of the car. The main frame of the c'ar consists of two of the cross bars 2 connected by two angle bars or other connecting bars 21. However, the exact construction of the main frame is also immaterial.

:Each of the cross bars '2 of the frame is provided with a series of sheet gripping and holding clamps. These devices are of such nature as to grasp and friction ally hold the sheets of plaster-wall board without perforating or marring them. Each of the clamping devices consists of'two arms having opposed faces, of which one h'as an inclined surface coacting with a gravity dog to grip the side of the sheet.

In Figure 2 three sheets A are shown as in place in the device. The arms 3 are all essentially alike, excepting the arm at one end of the series which has been designated as the arm 30. Each of the arms 3 has one perpendicular surface, as 31, against which one side of the sheet A is placed. The other face, 32, is provided with a projection haw ing an inclinedface 33, the same being i11- clined towards the adjacent arm 3, so that the sp'ace between this inclined face and the opposed face of the adjacent arm is reduced towards the lower end thereof. Placed be:

gravitydog 4, which in the construction of car herein illustrated consists of a short section of pipe the same being of such a length as to reach from one of the cross bars 2 to the other and to act as a common dogfor each of these pairs of gripping devices.

To facilitate entering the upper edge of its lower side as indicated in Figure 3, so" as to form a considerable surface in its lower 4 part, against which the edge of the sheet may impinge if it is not exactly positioned to pass between the bars.

The gravity dogs 4 are normally, or be- 7 fore the placing of the sheets in position,

resting as shown at the right hand portion of Figure 2. In this position they bear.

ly to the efiicient and qu1clrdry1ng of the against'the face 31 and are supported atthe opposite side by bearing upon a slight pro- .jeetion or ledge 35 placed at the bottom of the inclined surface 33.

The purpose ofthe slight. pro eetion 35 is to prevent the possibility of the dog 41- becoming wedged between the two surfaces 31 and 32 so thatit will not be readily displaced by the edge of the sheet as it is inserted. When so supported at one side by the corner 35, no wedgmg effect can occur and the gravity dog will be displaced upwardly by the edge of the sheet when .itis inserted. The dog will then be inserted between one face of the sheet A and the inclined surface'33, so that when am.- wveight of the sheet acts downwardly upon the dog to wedge it in position and thereby inclined surface 33. As a convenient way 'of doing this we have employed small pieces of paper, the same being of the thickness and type en'iployed in manufacturingthe plaster-wall board. Any good :frictional surface might answer for this purpose. Without employing such a frictional. member we have found that occasionally the weight of the sheet, acting upon the circular dog i. will causeit to turn with a sliding "movement over the face of the incline 33 and thus permit the sheet to drop. This of course might be prevented by roughening the surface of the dog and of the inc-line 33, but

this roughening of the surface of the dog would tend to mar the face of the sheet A. i

In handling long sheets of plaster-wall board two such cars or trolleys should be employed, these being located towards the ends of the sheet. :Ifthe sheet be of unusuallength it maybe necessary to employ more than two such cars. At the same time it is possible to employ these cars separately where the sheets being made are. short, in

which .case a single car is sufficient. Each of these cars or pairs of cars, as the case may be, supportsas many sheets as thereare spaces between the arms 3.' The series of sheets so supported are transported upon the overhead rails 10 and moved about the factory as may. be desired. They are permitted to remain so .suspended by the grippingdevices of the cars during the process of curing or drying.

lVe have found thatthe above device is one which makes handling ofthe sheets easy and rapid and also contributesto -ease of transportation. By suspending the sheets from one edge it tends to keep the sheets in true condition without warping and at the..-

sametimeyby permittingfree circulationjof air between the sheets, contributes materialsheets;

applied to the handling: of plaster-wall board, it is evident thatitnnay be applied to the handling of any other sheet material. Therefore wherever 'in'the specification and claims the term plaster-wall board is used it"- is to be understood that this is intended only as illustrative of a typeof-sheet material for the use with which our-invention isldesigned and not as limiting itto that perticular material.

.VVhatwe claim as our invention is: f

1. An; automatic holding means for plaster-wall board andlike sheet material comprising two depending arms having opposed gripping faces-the gripping face of onearm beingwert-ical and the complemental face of the other arm converging downwardly toward the said vertical face. and then further downwardly diverging from .said vertical face, and .agravity locking dog "1 loosely supported between the arms. above and the apex formed by said inclined faces. 2. An automatic holding means for plaster-wall board and like sheet material comprising-two depending arms having opposed faces, said face ofone arm being downwardly inclined toward the other arm and having a slight projecting ledge at the bottom of the incline, and a gravity dog of and a gravity do consisting of a bar ex tending between the two pairs of arms and zwardly converging towards the other arm normally supported loosely between the base of the inclines of one arm of each pair and the opposed face of the other arm of each pair.

4:. A suspending and transporting device for a series of plaster-wall boards and like sheets comprising a car having a series of parallel disposed sheet holding means each comprising two alined pairs of arms, and a bar forming a gravity dog and extending between the two pairs of arms.

5. A suspending and transporting device for a series of plaster-wall boards and like sheets comprising a car having a series of parallel disposed sheet holding means each comprising two alined pairs of arms, a bar forming a gravity dog and extending between the two pairs of arms, each arm except the outermost of each series being common for adjacent pairs.

6. A sheet suspending means comprising a series of depending arms connectedtogether in a-linement in a direction trans verse of the sheets to be held, the opposed faces of adjacent arms being downwardly inclined towards each other, and a gravity dog supported between said inclined surfaces.

7. A friction gripping device for wall boards and like material com )risin two frame members separated to permit insertion of the boards between them, one of said frame members having an inclined face downwardly converging toward. the other member, a layer of yielding and frictionincreasing material covering said inclined face, and a cylindrical gravity dog sup ported between said inclined face and the other member.

8. A friction gripping device for plasterwall board and like sheet materialcomprising two members having opposed faces be tween which an edge of the board may be inserted, one of said faces being substantially vertical andthe other inclined downwardly toward said vertical face, said inclined face having a slightly projecting ledge at the lower edge of the incline, and a cylindrical gravity dog adapted to be sup ported by said ledge and the face of the opposite member and to be displaced upwardly and away from the vertical face by insertion of the sheet to be held thereby.

Signed at Seattle, King County, VVashington, this 30th day of October, 1923.

FRANK R. BATES. ARTHUR G. SMITH. 

